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Will Leominster team's robot rule the world?

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
02/05/2013 11:48:47 AM EST

LEOMINSTER -- Steve Arpano and his robotics team is dreaming of world domination.

Arpano is taking his robotics team, humorously named 2Hot3Not, to Omaha, Neb., in March to compete in the U.S. National VEX Robotics Championship for a chance to qualify for the world championships, high-school division, being held in Anaheim, Calif., in April.

To afford the trip, the team will hold a fundraiser Thursday at Uno's Chicago Grill, 905 Merriam Ave.

The robotics team named Rednecks, coached by Jim Cunningham, has already qualified for the world championships, middle-school division, by winning the New England regional at Quinsigamond Community College last month.

"If we win Omaha, we get to go to Anaheim as well," Arpano said Monday.

This is the inaugural season for 2Hot3Not, but Arpano is fielding an experienced team of high-school freshmen and an eighth-grader who have been in the city's robotics program for years.

"There are two girls and three boys on the team," Arpano said to explain the name.

The team includes Leominster High School freshmen Leah Arpano, Patrick Casey, Nick Valiton and Cody Stephens, and Taylor Ewha, 13, an eighth-grader at Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School at Devens.

Nick started a countdown on the top floor of the May A. Gallagher building Monday night, and a practice round started against LHS seniors Bradley Bedard, 17, and An Do, 18, who were offering themselves as sparring partners.

Nick is the programmer of 2Hot3Not.

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"Anything that goes from the controller to the robot, I have to program," he said. "If a button is pressed, I have to tell it what that means."

He has been involved in robotics since the third grade, and likes the way this year's team has taken a complex problem and simplified it.

The team has been practicing up to eight hours a week since September.

It built a robot to pick up sacks filled with plastic pellets. The robot must deposit the 5-inch sacks in a floor goal, a trough 15 inches off the playing surface or a high goal 30 inches high. Robots playing on the 12-foot square field can also take their opponents' sacks out of the goals to reduce their point total.

The team is heading to Omaha with high hopes.

"Their chances are very good," Arpano said. "The robot is very consistent."

Since the scoring is going well, the team is spending its time practicing defense to take bags away from opponents.

On Thursday, Uno's is promising to give 15 percent of its receipts from customers who present a ticket asking for the donation to the robotics team.

The tickets are good for carry-out or dine-in orders from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Uno's General Manager Beth Colson said.

"If you don't have a ticket, you can ask for one when you get here," Colson said.

Arpano's team handed out fliers at the Sky View Middle School Winter Carnival last week and will have them available at the restaurant.

The team is also raffling an iRobot. Tickets are available through team members or by visiting the team's Facebook page, 2Hot3Not.

According to the VEX Robotics Competition website www.robotevents.com, Townsend's Patriobots robotics team has also qualified for the world championships in April.

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